Pancho Villa: A Robin Hood?
Websites:
  • The California Native International Adventures: Who was Pancho Villa? --This website has pictures and information about Pancho Villa. It is basically a travel website. It advertises different places around the world. The information about Pancho Villa was from the newsletter. The newsletter contains different historical facts about different things and people. The picture of the wanted poster of Pancho was my favorite thing I got from this website.
  • In Pursuit of Pancho Villa~1916-1917 -- The website has a TON of information. There are pictures and maps that I found useful. Also this site has some information on the United States' side of things. It is a website that gave me a different look at things. It declares the importance of the fiasco with Pancho Villa. The website is one that I found very useful because of the extreme amount of information. This website didn't just talk about Pancho Villa, it also delved a very little into WWI and other thngs.
  • About.com:Pancho Villa -- This website had a bunch of basic facts about Pancho Villa. It only had one picture. The site had a search engine and I am positive it could give you information about many different topics. This site is easy to use. At the bottom of the article it gives you related articles. The site has many links to other sites and stories that are related to or about Pancho Villa.
  • Ojinaga.com:Pancho Villa Home Page-- The website was valuable for the pictures. Also the website had information that I could use. It was a good site for lots of Mexican leaders. It was fun to be able to read it in Spanish if I wanted. There are some very umm interesting views about Villa in this website. For instance, one..view.. is that Villa was Jewish. Another is that Villa had a cult in which he were the religious figure. This website was entertaining to say the least.
  • Pancho Villa-- This website was filled with pictures. It also had some information about Pancho. The pictures were the best thing on there because I haven't seen those pictures on any other website. The site was creative and very neat. It wasn't very good for everything on the Mexican Revolution. The site had a ton of things for the Mexican Revolution and would be extremely helpful if that were my topic. It was also very good for Pancho Villa.


Voice Thread: (Reba's mic was not working. That is why she wrote in her comments.)


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Summary of Pancho Villa:


Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa was a folk hero to some; to most he was a killer and a bandit. Known as a “Robin Hood”, Villa was an advocate for the poor. The Mexican Revolution leader was famous and now is a recognizable figure in history.
Born on June 5, 1878 as Doroteo Arango, Villa would become best known as Francisco Villa (Pancho was a common nickname for Francisco). He was born to a sharecropper for the hacienda in San Juan del Rio, Durango. Pancho knew the harshness of a peasant life. Upon the death of his father, at age 15, Pancho began to work as a sharecropper for his mother and four siblings. Life looked like it would be poor but normal for Pancho.
At age 16, Pancho killed his first man. Pancho killed the hacienda owner because the hacienda owner was planning on having sexual intercourse with Pancho’s 12-year-old sister. Pancho fled into the mountains. There he found some bandits and soon became their leader. The group would steal money shipments and cattle. Pancho and his group committed other crimes against the wealthy. The money that Pancho’s gang received was often given to the poor. Thus Pancho became known as a Robin Hood. The actions of Pancho’s group gained them attention.
Men who were planning a revolution wanted Pancho Villa to lead part of the revolutionary military. The men felt that Pancho’s skills would help with guerilla fighting. Since the next-in-line leader promised change for the lower classes, Villa joined the cause. Villa’s efforts helped Francisco Madera gained the presidency chair. Villa was only a leader from October of 1910 to May of 1911. Pancho Villa resigned in May and was married to Maria Luz Corral. Pancho tried to settle down. They had six children but Pancho couldn’t stay away from the political unrest.
Another revolution began in 1912. This time Villa sided with Madero and worked with Victoriano Huerta. Huerta turned on Villa; as a result Villa spent 6 months in jail. He escaped from prison and found that Huerta had claimed presidency over Madera. In response, Villa sided with Venustiano Carranza to fight against Huerta. However, in 1914, Carranza and Villa became enemies. There were major conflicts between the two in northern Mexico and the United States got involved.
The U.S. sided with Carranza and on March 9, 1916, Villa attacked the town of Columbia, New Mexico. The raid was the first attack on American soil since 1812. In response to Villa’s attack, President Woodrow Wilson sent 15,000 troops after Pancho Villa. This was a waste because Villa just led them on a wild goose chase. Villa was never caught.
Pancho Villa met his demise on July 20, 1923. Pancho Villa frequently made trips to Parral for random errands. On July 20, 1923, Villa had picked up a consignment of gold to pay his Canutillo ranch staff. He was driving his black 1919 Dodge roadster when a group of seven riflemen fired shots into his car. In just two minutes, 150 shots were fired. Sixteen bullets lodged into Villa’s body. Villa supposedly killed one of the assassins before he died.
From peasant to fugitive, to Robin Hood, and to a revolution leader, Pancho Villa was many things. Pancho Villa was a man surrounded in controversy and turmoil. This turmoil made him a recognizable figure in history, especially the Mexican Revolution.